“Parkland,” is a behind-the-scenes dramatization of the JFK assassination that is set to be released on Oct. 4th as the nation prepares to mark the 50th anniversary of the President’s death.

The film, which premiered over the weekend at the Toronto International Festival, is not as awful as Emilio Estevez’ “Bobby,” which attempted the same sort of trick for brother Robert Kennedy’s assassination in 1968. But Peter Landesman’s film, which mostly uses TV footage of the better known figures in the story, isn’t really very good either.

The largest part of the film takes place at Parkland Memorial Hospital, where the emergency room staff — played by Zac Efron, Marcia Gay Harden and Colin Hanks (son of co-producer Tom) — tries to save JFK’s life with the crude medical technology then available.

Two days later — after the Dallas coroner briefly tries to block the Secret Service from removing the body — the medical team make a somewhat less heroic effort to save accused Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, who was also shot to death.

There are also subplots about Oswald’s crazy mother (Jacki Weaver), who claims her son was working for the CIA, and an FBI agent (Ron Livingston) who’s in trouble with his boss (Billy Bob Thornton) for ignoring a warning letter from Oswald as just another crank.

The most compelling of these threads focuses on Abraham Zapruder (Paul Giamatti), the Dallas clothing manufacturer who accidentally captured the moment of JFK’s shooting with his 8mm camera and turns the evidence over to the FBI. He also sells print rights to Life Magazine that exclude the frame showing the bullets hitting JFK’s head.

Based on a book by Melvin Belli, “Parkland” is full of odd scenes, including one sequence showing Secret Service agents struggling to load the coffin with Kennedy’s body onto Air Force One. At least Jackie Kennedy is wearing a more flattering version of her blood-stained dress than the one in “The Butler.”